Dr Tim’s fishless newbie

[Branchie68]

Hi all,

I wonder if you could advise on some specific questions. I am back in the hobby after 5 years and my first foray was a bit of a disaster, with a cobbled together tank and too little knowledge and patience.

I now have a new Reefer xl 200 which is on day 3 of the Dr Tim’s fishless cycle. I have 40lbs of Caribsea Arag Alive live sand and 40lbs of Caribsea life rock, have the skimmer off and filter sock out. For good measure on day 1 I added 60ml of Dr Tim’s One and Only bacteria to give more of a kick start. I added 120 drops of the Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride and checked my levels after 3 hours, added another 30 drops of AC and measured levels again 3 hours later to get to 2 ppm. All good so far.

Day 2 I checked all water parameters and had ph at 8 still, ammonia at 2 ppm, nitrite at 0 and nitrate at between 5 and 10 - I guessed around 7.5 as it was pretty much between colours on the chart.

Day 3 - ph 8, ammonia 2, nitrite 0 and nitrate slightly lower at around 5.

My questions are:

Does this seem normal so far? I am surprised to see nitrate readings without having seen any nitrite. Maybe because of all the bacteria in the rock, sand and added in the One and Only it’s working super efficiently in turning the NO2 to NO3 so I haven’t seen the former...yet.

Should I now put the filter sock back in place as the bacteria are hopefully established - it’s been over 48 hours since I removed it

Should I run the skimmer to start breaking it in or will this affect the cycling process?

I’m running a subdued lighting schedule on the ReefLED 90 - I know any light may encourage algae but I figure it’s probably coming at some point anyway so the tank may as well look nice while it’s cycling. Is that Reasonable thinking?

At what point can I add Copepods? I’d like to encourage as much biodiversity in the tank as possible and while there is no wildlife in there I thought they’d have a better chance to start a reproducing colony.

Apologies if I’m repeating things resolved on previous threads. I’ve searched around and read quite a bit but I couldn’t find clear answers to my specific queries.

Many thanks for any advice in advance, and because we all like a tank picture here’s mine...

 

[PeaBrain]

Welcome, Branchie68!

 

[lion king]

The skimmer and the sock will make no difference for the cycle. Make sure you follow the instructions on the DR Tim's website about dosing AC, I've seen many here go wrong.

For future info, the sock will trap organics and if cleaned regularly with help with nitrates, much to internet folklore, it is not a nitrate trap, as these "trapped" organics would have just found another place in your tank.

The skimmer removes organics before they start the cycle to break down.

 

[canadianeh]

welcome back to hobby! I am in the same boat and just back in the hobby after few years of absence.

Anyway, check out my build thread HERE I have been recording the daily test and I am using Dr Tims Ammonia and Dr Tims one and only. I also use Caribsea liferock just like you.

My test results were also weird, but I suspected it has something to do with 3 years old dr tims ammonia bottle. After two weeks in, I bought new ammonia. I got 0 ammonia on day 29 and 0 nitrite on day 30.

Also, don't run the lights at all during cycle.

 

[Dr Jimmy]

Mine took about a week. Lights off, skimmer off, socks out. Then within 36 hours it was done.

 

[Branchie68]

The skimmer and the sock will make no difference for the cycle. Make sure you follow the instructions on the DR Tim's website about dosing AC, I've seen many here go wrong.

For future info, the sock will trap organics and if cleaned regularly with help with nitrates, much to internet folklore, it is not a nitrate trap, as these "trapped" organics would have just found another place in your tank.

The skimmer removes organics before they start the cycle to break down.

I think I’m getting it right. Still have no nitrites but I’ll keep checking and following instructions. I have a new patient aura these days...

 

[Branchie68]

welcome back to hobby! I am in the same boat and just back in the hobby after few years of absence.

Anyway, check out my build thread HERE I have been recording the daily test and I am using Dr Tims Ammonia and Dr Tims one and only. I also use Caribsea liferock just like you.

My test results were also weird, but I suspected it has something to do with 3 years old dr tims ammonia bottle. After two weeks in, I bought new ammonia. I got 0 ammonia on day 29 and 0 nitrite on day 30.

Also, don't run the lights at all during cycle.

Thanks! I’ll check out your build thread.

I have the lights coming on at 1500 with 0% blues and whites rising to 10% in 1 hour, dropping to 0% again at 2100 and then off at 2300. Think that‘s going to cause any major algae issues? It’s just nice to see the tank a little. But can certainly go dark for a week or two if you really think I should.

 

[canadianeh]

Thanks! I’ll check out your build thread.

I have the lights coming on at 1500 with 0% blues and whites rising to 10% in 1 hour, dropping to 0% again at 2100 and then off at 2300. Think that‘s going to cause any major algae issues? It’s just nice to see the tank a little. But can certainly go dark for a week or two if you really think I should.

Think about it. During cycle, you will end up with nitrate building up in your tank. Nothing to export it. Nitrate is one of nutrients that algae uses to grow. You can turn it on to look at it and turn it off right away before you walk away. I learned my lesson from my first tank. I am not going to give ammunition for algae to grow right now. I even keep the shutter closed in the room right now. I put in a ball of chaeto yesterday and started to run light on the sump. I still don't have lights on the tank until now. I will wait until I get fish and CUC in before I turn it on. I am also culturing my own pods while waiting. I am going to do some WC soon to remove the nitrate.

 

[Dr Jimmy]

I did a 100% water change after my fishless cycle. Would recommend

 

[brandon429]

All of these are about a week, only the way people measure ammonia (and validate incorrect readings) varies tank to tank.

At ten days, the liferock is self-activated along with all these other bac sources, this tank is ready to go at a week. do a big water change to export algae fuel cycling water. unassisted cycles take longer, however nobody does those they're all assisted nowadays, and usually redundantly.

Any time ammonia holds vs is in motion, that reader is wrong. Ammonia is a dynamic compound which cannot stick, hold, or stall in any reef cycle using rocks or sand. Not one, on this earth, can stall but users of non seneye ammonia readers sure might try and persuade otherwise/thats how we know these 3x redundant setups are ready by day ~7 easy-by the few that were tested with seneye and show ammonia control in the thousandths ppm across tanks, and not one reef ever attaining true .25 free ammonia as commonly measured.

 

[Branchie68]

Hi folks

I am now at day 12 in the cycle. I think things are going OK but would appreciate a sanity check.

It‘s sometimes hard to be completely sure with the colours but I think I’m reasonably accurate with numbers.

My results today are as follows and there’s a detailed graph below.

Ph - stable at 8 since the start
Ammonia - 0.5 has been dosed back up from 1 ppm to 2 ppm once
Nitrite - 5 ppm it may be higher than this as it’s as high as the test goes
Nitrate - 40 ppm - has been increasing but stable over the last 2 tests

There are some slight discrepancies between the various bits of advice I’ve read and even slightly in the 2 guides on Dr Tim’s site but I think that it’s going as expected and I’m at the nitrite spike.

I’m not sure whether to leave everything and keep testing until the ammonia and nitrite are both below 0.2 ppm and then dose up to 2 ppm to see if both readings fall under 0.2 ppm, or whether I should be concerned that the nitrites don’t seem to be falling and do a 10% water change. As I understand it if nitrite stays high for too long it can stall the cycle.

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

thanks,

Paul